Resolutions v Goals

Happy New Year Everyone. Good luck with any resolutions you made. I don’t do resolutions; I do annual goals. For the last ten years, I have written out goals for each year for each facet of life (family, church, fitness, finances, etc). A couple times each year, I write an update note next to each goal, usually as something as simple as “yes” or “no” with a quick note as to why or why not. I have about ten years of these goals, and it’s fun to look back at them to see where I was in life.

This year, my physical fitness goals are a plan all by themselves because I really want to hit the 20-60-40 triathlon mark. Honestly, I don’t do much different with the plan than I would without the plan, but I also have a few spreadsheets that keep track of times and heart rates that help me look back to see if I’m getting better. So, the plan is a bit more than a simple plan; it’s a data dump that I can use for analysis. The plan is really just a simple road map and basic motivator when I get tired and lose motivation.

I went skiing again yesterday for New Year’s. We did a 3.5 hour backcountry ski, and my legs were really tired. More of a deep fatigue than simple tiredness. I’m pretty sure it’s from starting to run again this week because the weather was fair, the gym was closed, and the roads cleared up. But it’s great to get outside and breathe the fresh air. I really do love living in Pocatello because the local mountains are challenging enough without being too challenging, and they are close….it took us twenty minutes to get to the trailhead yesterday.

I finally remembered to get my resting heart rate in the morning this morning. I’m at 56bpm, which is average for me for the amount of exercise I’m doing. Last fall I was down to 48-50 at peak fitness.

I haven’t got my swim video yet! I made a link-up with somebody who is interested in doing it. That’s Smitty, who is the president of the Pocatello triathlon club. She said they’re going to have a swim clinic for the club in February, and I think it would be really cool to video everyone during that time. I’ll have to get more memory for my camera!